Metallic Fury
by Writing1sLife
Summary: 10 years of silence and then it's broken but not in the way anyone expects or sees coming.
1. Fury Rising

Life was anything but simple on Earth anymore. Ten years ago, _they_ had arrived. Alien lifeforms but not from the stars, they came from the sea. The "Breach" as it was called, a portal that was from another place permitting them to send enormous creatures through to assault the Earth. They were called the Precursor's and they intended to terraform Earth as part of some beginning plan of conquest. Perhaps they needed to use Earth for something but whatever the reason's, they had failed because Humanity fought back. The Jaeger program was born from the need for a new threat called the Kaiju. The Kaiju were "monsters" and the Jaeger's were "Hunter" designed to kill them.

The Breach had been sealed but not without a heavy price. A lot of lives lost, a lot of losing battles, vast amounts of destruction to cities; and there were those who were convinced that the threat had not been eliminated. The Shatterdomes that housed Jaegers had been rebuilt and the nations of the world went to work building new Jaegers and improving their technology while training a new generation of pilots. Still, with the absence of Kaiju came the threat of battles involving Jaegers, thus a set of rules: no Jaeger could not be put into the field without registration, any Jaeger and pilots resisting said rule was subject to apprehension and jail time, and those who continued to resist without complying were subject to being put down with non-lethal force.

That thing, "breaking rules", that was what got Jake Pentecost in the wrong light with others all his life. At least, after he scrubbed out as a Jaeger pilot, and began selling parts from them on the black market. Then, his big adopted sister found him in jail and gave him the only way out left: reenlist as a pilot and finished what he had begun. Initially he disapproved, but it was the only choice left. He had, coincidently, arrived in time to assist Mako Mori, his adopted sister, Jaeger pilot no longer but Secretary-General, with a certain problem concerning drones replacing Jaeger pilots. The debate was three-sided: the average citizen felt at times that there was no need for the "giant robots" anymore, the pilots felt threatened by the drones which required no pilot and furthermore were subject to hacking along with destroying the careers of countless men and women, while the Shao companies head, Liwen Shao, was determined to see her life's work put on the field. The woman lived to see herself victorious and was determined to not lose this struggle.

Since big brothers did support their sisters, Jake agreed to get back into the Jaeger he had abandoned, Gypsy Avenger, a Mark-VI model, and the crown jewel of the Jaeger fleet. Part of the agreement was in order to annoy the Ranger he was co-piloting Gypsy with: Nathan Lambert. A close friend, more like a brother actually, the relationship between the two had been strained when Jake abandoned the program. Now Jake was back, and the two were butting heads or at least struggling to come to some peaceable terms. Lambert was all-too-serious and preferred to keep everything in order while Pentecost was indifferent to the condition of things, rather simply that he got the job done.

The Pan-Pacific Corps was meeting in Sydney, Australia to discuss the future of the Jaeger program and the possibilities presented by the drones. Jake and Nate were in Gypsy being brought in by helicopter team. It was the common method of transport in order to bring a Jaeger to its destination of deployment due to the machine's enormous size. Things like them walking through the streets meant rubble, crushed pavement, heavily damaged vehicles, and people striving to get out of the way. To be blunt, they existed in a world too small for them so one found ways to compromise.

Not everyone was so happy about this council meeting. Protestors throwing bombs and rock were forcing the Sydney police in riot gear to make arrests and hold back the masses. "Gypsy Avenger, this is Marshal Quan. All you need to do is stand there and look pretty. Try not to fall over."

"Roger to that," replied Lambert with professional grace and ease. Jake braced himself for what was to come: "The Drift" or Neural Handshake as it was called. It was based on DARPA jet fighter technology permitting two people to synchronize their minds in order to move and act as one and the machine with them. They served as the mind, the right and left hemispheres of the brain, while the machine served as the body. The two were synchronized to move and fight as one.

"Drop in 3, 2, 1, drop," continued the Marshal.

The tethers disconnected and the circle of space cleared for the Jaeger was landed in on target. But then came the part of moving as one. Nate was already in full focus but Jake was out of practice. The sudden flood of memories and thoughts had him struggling to find his equilibrium, the calm "center". "Jake!" yelled Lambert. His voice brought Jake back into alignment.

He looked over at Nate before the "noise" finally subsided to a calm silence with nothing flickering over his vision. "Relax," he began to turn his attention to all of the virtual display on his side of the Jaeger. Stabilization and power…there was a lot of care and attention that went into operating a Jaeger.

"Ion cells activated," stated the calm AI of the machine. It sounded like a voice from some famous video game. Puffballs or something of that nature, he couldn't remember. It was actually Portals. The reason is because the voice was familiar and full of clear, audible, clarity.

"It's all starting to come back to me."

"You sure about that?" asked Nate. "Hey," he calmly interjected, "We are inside of each other's heads, remember? So, I would very much appreciate it if you stop focusing so much upon Jules and your fantasizing about what the two of you could come to. Not gonna happen in any lifetime."

"Well," returned Jake, "stop thinking so much about kicking my butt. That isn't going to happen either."

Nate gave a sigh of frustration. "This is gonna be one heck of a long day."

"Incoming transport," stated the Glados-like AI. There she was: the helicopter containing Mako. Jake felt a small swell of emotion. The things that you did for family. He had no true desire to be back inside these machines, but he did love his sister and care about her; and there was absolutely no frickin' way that he was not going to provide some emotional support for her in this difficult time.

She was probably watching him right now. Then a small alarm began to go off. "Warning," stated the AI flatly.

"Gypsy to command. You readin' this?" Nate, professional as ever, and yet a little concerned from what Jake could tell. A reading, and it looked like the signature of a big object moving in the bay. Furthermore, something seemed off because, well the birds. Every last bird in the area it seemed was flying away from the water, their cries filling the air, the flapping of their wings a symphony of unnerving mystery.

A dark shape was visible in the blue water of the harbor, but it was difficult to determine just how fast it was moving or its exact size. The object would have been taken for a whale except it suddenly moved upward into the air in an explosion of water and kept rising upward until it was taller than the Sydney Opera House, over 200 feet tall to be precise. Water poured off of the body of a sleek, polished, human figure that was metallic. With purposeful strides, the Jaeger moved through the shallows towards dry ground, its intent and purpose unknown and threatening. "Gypsy," came Quan's voice over the intercom, "this is Command. Be advised, we have a rogue Jaeger." The unknown Jaeger appeared to have shielding of Obsidian Chrome, explaining its polished shiny appearance, and making the orange y-shape of its face-plate in the helm all the more menacing to look at. It was moving with purpose towards the city and clearly was not easy to distract for it bumped a boat with its fist but just kept moving forward without glancing.

"Pilots of unregistered Jaeger," boomed the voice of Nathan across the city through the Jaeger's speakers, "power down and exit your conn-pod immediately. I repeat, power down and exit your conn-pod immediately."

The Jaeger promptly adopted aggressive stance and its shoulders popped open. An array of six tubes promptly spat fire their way.

"Missiles fired!" roared the voice of Quan. It seemed to slow as it approached to Jake so he seemed to be moving just as slow in turning to the right so it missed the shoulder. One of the six was narrowly dodged by the helicopter carrying Mako.

Just as the missiles stopped hitting the council center, Jake looked up realizing the truth of what was getting ready to happen. The landing pad on the building's top – helicopter and everything – was tilted and then plummeted towards the crowd. Jake and Nate just managed to reach it and keep it steady with a desperate reach of their right hand. The whole thing had caught them completely off guard. It was a good thing they caught the pad for Liwen was dead center beneath it. Her security quickly swept her towards her vehicle and escape while another missile struck Gypsy's shoulder. "Warning. Lower power," calmly stated the AI.

"We're losing power!" yelled Jake desperately to Command straining to hold steady on his end as he was chiefly the right limb of the Jaeger. They had been caught completely off guard and were not in a position for combat. Further complications came from the fact that the civilians were in the line of fire.

A metallic boom signaled that the twin-barreled guns guarding the harbor were firing upon the assailant. It took a number of blows to its back but none of them seemed to scar its plating. It promptly spun around and let loose two missiles, one for each gun, and then focused towards the next ones. Mako observed everything from the helicopter as the pilot sought to clear the compromised area. Her I-pad pinged. "Jake," came her voice over the radio, "that Jaeger's power reading is—" The signal dissolved into noisy static and squawks.

"It's jamming our comm's," yelled the pilot to be heard by Mako. The Obsidian Chrome plates on the back of the Jaeger's spine were flapping and waving as they pulsed, broadcasting a jamming signal of impressive intensity. Then its head moved to the skies, and locked on to the path of the helicopter. It raised a fist and the forearm opened to reveal a locked and loaded weapon. An arm-mounted particle gun, dangerous, and it would destroy the copter in one strike.

"NATE!" yelled Jake desperately.

"Power's up," called back his co-pilot in a strained voice. They took advantage of the surge of power and pushed forward with a strong right foot to aid the desperate throw towards their target. Kwock! It cracked with a resounding impact square on the back of the rouge knocking its aim off just as it fired. The round missed Mako's craft. Gypsy rushed the attacker and threw a right. Caught in a metallic hand of impressive size. BWANG! It countered with a strong right at shoulder height knocking Gypsy into a building. It followed with a ferocious and speedy left uppercut sending them sliding "up" the building shredding windows and masonry.

They swung right, it countered with a left swing on the chin. B-sh-sh-sh-shing! Curved blades like claws sprung out of its forearm and it raked its left back the other way swiftly. Jake reeled under the sensation and fury of blows and Nate struggled to hold his own equilibrium. Clunk! went the rogue as it grabbed them under the left leg near the hip and bodily heaved them back over to the left into another large building. It kept going, dragging the struggling pair through a nearby highway and slamming them down on to a garage, yanked them by the arm into another pair of buildings before placing them front and center and blasting them with the overlooked Particle Charger in its chest. The sheer force of the energy in the beam knocked Gypsy clean off its feet into another building.

Both pilots were breathing hard. No room in this location for ranged combat, not with civilians in the line of fire. The energized chain sword sprung to its full length from the left forearm. This would solve the issue of close combat. The rogue crouched and a blade snapped out of _its_ left, followed by the _right_. Not blades Jake realized, Dual Plasma Chainsaws. "Oh snap," he breathed.

The two remained frozen in ready stances, and then the rogue struck. Its moves were a fury of precise, deadly swings and thrusts, complimented by smooth dodging. Gypsy tried to rally some form of offense, but even with Nate's skill and knowledge, they could not seem to get off one blow. It was also one blade against two and the rogue was ruthless and skilled in ways that were devastating to the strained bond the two pilots shared. Gypsy received a cut on the chest and was left struggling to hit something other than thin air. Then an overhead chop missed and buried the right chainsaw in a building and it was caught.

"What do we do?" yelled Jake seeking a means to take advantage of the first real opening they had.

"Follow my lead!" called Nate, taking the lead role in the bond in order to guide them better with his skill. He reared back the right hand and the rocket thrusters in the right elbow flared to life. Together, they swung the rocket punch straight into the chest of the rogue just as it yanked its weapon arm free. KWOOM! The blow was a strong one and the rogue Jaeger left the ground but skillfully swung its arms wide cutting through buildings on the side in order to arrest its momentum and dug its feet in carving a swath through the pavement. At the same time its shoulders popped open revealing those missile launchers again. Gypsy guarded with its arms and braced with its right foot. They could not afford to move lest the missiles stray and spread further damage to the city. They needed to weather the onslaught and find a way to get this fight clear of the city. Backup was prayerfully on the way.

One missile went by them and struck a building followed by a second. Jake turned tracing the trail of fire to its point of impact. "Mako's hit!"

Indeed, the helicopter's tail had caught a chunk of the last explosion. And now it was going down. "She's going down! We gotta move!"

"Activating gravity sling!" yelled Nate getting focused back to the task of the rogue Jaeger that was rapidly racing with long strides back towards them. The components of the right had shifted and reformed to a massive beam projector of energy. They aimed behind them and the energy beam quickly spread to the debris from a nearby garage. Cars, masonry, metal, all began to gather together under the pull of the gravitational disturbance and collected into a condensed ball. They swung and the self-made "ball" at the end of the energy tether cracked with a resounding force right under the chin of charging Jaeger throwing it flat on its back.

Quickly, Gypsy turned and began running with long strides towards the falling helicopter. It was picking up speed fast. Only one chance. The right foot slammed and Jake lunged right hand outstretched desperately to sweep up the helicopter before it hit the ground. The tips of the fingers grazed it but…that was all. Jake groaned in pain as they fell flat on to the unforgiving pavement. Then his eyes widened at the ball of flame. "MAKO!" he roared desperately yanking his helmet off.

"Jake! Wait!" But he was already in motion. He was out the airlock on the side, and was hopping down as fast as he could off of Gypsy's shoulder on to the ground. Then he was sprinting, tears streaking furiously down his face, unaware of anything except the burning wreckage in front of him. _No, please, please, no. Not like this, not like this, no please._

The rogue had gotten back on its feet and was calmly advancing towards the immobile Jaeger, only to stop as if something was wrong. Some sixth sense told it that there was trouble, and it was right. Three other Jaeger were being visibly airlifted in and those were not good numbers. Capture was not permitted; survival and concealment now took priority. Complete termination of priority target had been accomplished, and secondary target would be dealt with at later point. With this cold logic, the rouge Jaeger turned back towards the water and strode into the depths before vanishing beneath and its dark shape quickly sped off like a squid jetting away under its own jet propulsion.


	2. Thin Ice

There had been twelve Jaegers in total at the funeral for Mako. Jake had already lost his ability to shed anymore tears by the time everything commenced. Liwen had not been present. Jake just couldn't care about that; not half as much as trying to figure out what to do. They needed to find that rogue. They were calling it Obsidian Fury and the name was perfect. It was probably serving as the perfect coup for Liwen to assert that her drones would not have failed to stop the threat. Jake knew better than to believe such a silly idea. Nobody had been ready for such an occurrence at the council meeting. The council would probably approve the drones only out of the desperation born of a new, undetermined threat. Saving lives was the point but, doggonit, you couldn't stop people from dying.

Jake was wandering the halls aimlessly after finding something of intrigue in the lab. Mako had managed to send a piece of info to the Corps just before the crash. It had been a challenge thanks to the jammers, but it had been received, albeit, fragmented. Gottlieb had managed to begin restoring it and the image that appeared was an odd one. It looked like a Kaiju image from the database they had but the search came up empty when it was compared to everything they had. It was important, but until properly identified, all he could do was wait, and think about his position in life. Nate had not condemned him, in fact he had simply been quietly by Jake's side at the funeral, and then vanished to somewhere else in the facility.

After an undetermined amount of time, he suddenly received the news he had been waiting on. The image was not about something, but rather a place. The message pointed towards a location in Siberia: Severnaya Zemlya. It was a factory from the old days back in the war, but it was now decommissioned. According to Gottlieb, they made old power cores there once, but why the message pointed there was the mystery. Jake didn't care about that, it mattered to him that Mako's message pointed to that location. Mako never acted without a reason. He knew that from experience.

At his request, they had been airlifted to Siberia, and now they were moving across the ice towards the facility to see what was there. Gypsy Avenger could help them see what their human eyes could not through her sophisticated sensors. Plus, it gave Jake more practice at being inside Nate's head, and this was a personal mission anyway. If it lead them to answers, and bringing down Obsidian Fury, Jake would be able to make some peace with this whole turn of events.

As they were on route, Jake asked for Nate's take on the rogue. Designed for battle, lots of time and effort went into it, no half-baked parts or armor. Obsidian Chrome, nothing cheap about it, and it covered the upper half so the power core and over vital points were difficult to get at; this also made it heavier and difficult to unbalance at the cost of speed. To compensate, the pilots must have trained religiously to anticipate their opponent in order to maximize their combat potential, especially since it moved and fought like one of the older models. Its weapons were nothing to sneeze at and it was built for combat on a heavy scale. AKM Salvo-Launchers built into both shoulders. Six barrels that were simplistic in design, but made up for it with honed skill and the element of surprise. Arm-mounted Particle Guns, probably for precision targeting since it was not as fast on the reload. The Dual Plasma Chainsaws, now _there_ was a problem. Just about every Jaeger in existence had a weapon for close range combat, some built only for close quarters, while others had the tool as an alternate to their fists. Each was different but dual-wielding was a bit special and required no small degree of skill, especially something as heavy and wieldy as a chainsaw. The Plasma was a bonus making it cut deeper and sharper than it would normally. The worst part was the Particle Charger. Its blasts were powerful and had enormous force in them. All in all, it was a well-designed machine when it came to the threat it presented. "It's nothing special," Nate said, "buts its not outdated by any means. Whoever designed it had a clear idea in their heads. The thing that really hurts it that Jaegers don't usually end up fighting other Jaegers, and those that do are usually half-baked."

Jake could agree on that one. He knew from experience that Jaegers built in secret never amounted to much in terms of threat to those made by the professionals in Shatterdomes; it was simply too difficult to get the necessary parts and equipment without risking exposure. Whoever had done all of this was a pro. The pilots were good to by Nate's calculations. The element of surprise had not worked against Fury either. They had a plan, they executed it, and then they left in order to make sure the mystery remained. It was odd though that it came from the sea and then returned to it without any airlift. Jaegers almost always arrived at their destinations by airlift and then taken out the same way. It conserved fuel and kept the impact of the Jaeger's movements to a minimum. When Jaeger's walked, the ground was disturbed, and collateral damage, however unintentional, was a constant.

As they walked the snow-covered plains of ice, Jake was quiet. Nate had commented his surprise at how easily Jake had slipped into the Drift. Jake had carried one thing with him: ice-cold determination, and that lent him focus. His thoughts weren't drifting everywhere nor did he have any desire to be anywhere except in the now. Nate was focused to, though his mind was processing some of the best ways to engage their opponent, and what the message could mean. Jake shared his curiosity; and he wanted to rip open that Jaeger and get answers for why his sister was targeted.

Finally, lights blazing full steam, sensors sweeping, they found themselves within visible range of the facility. Nate swept his hand over some the virtual buttons. "Scanning," calmly stated the AI. He sighed with disappointment.

"It looks like Mako's message was a dead end." He looked over at Jake who said nothing. "This place is abandoned and probably has been for some undeterminable amount of time."

"Wait a second," Jake said. He noticed something and enlarged the 3D virtual image of the buildings with a sweep of his hands bringing it into sharper focus. He looked back to Nate as he gestured at the image. "I'm getting some rather strange readings."

Nate's eyes narrowed in curiosity. _Whoop, whoop, whoop!_ "Incoming!"

They had partially turned when the first one struck and they went down kneeling on one knee so the others missed. Missiles. The first was direct hit and the rest hit the facility igniting explosions and erasing the whole area. Whether intentional or not was irrelevant. Gypsy turned back towards the source and saw it instantly. The orange visor was the dead giveaway.

 _Found you!_ They were immediately on their feet and charging despite continuous, spaced shots their way. Most missed, while others struck them on the shoulders but Jake didn't feel it, did not even notice it; all he saw was the killer. He was in charge of the bond, his superior feelings and focus driving everything with Nate riding along and providing backup through his superior experience and knowledge. He instantly recalled his sessions with Mako. _Never be predictable; the moment you do that, the opponent gains the upper hand on you._

They were closing in, and that meant _it_ was probably coming. "Take out his legs!" Jake didn't hesitate. They took a short hop and landed in a metallic belly flop just as the Particle Charger fired. To deploy the weapon meant Obsidian Fury had to stand still in a braced stance lest the force of its own weapon knock it off balance. This was ice which meant they kept moving beneath the beam of energy. A quick twist and they hooked Fury's leg. The rogue was swept off its balance and went down hard. With a quick roll Gypsy was on top. A clean blow to the "chin" but Fury managed to guard the double fisted slam they attempted with its forearms and gave a quick counter. Then they plunged into open air, a crack in the glaciers they were fighting on. Ice fragments flew everywhere and refracted the light of their weapons as they crashed against the sides and stray icicles. Zzzrrrnnnnkkk! Obsidian had brought one of the chainsaws into play as they tumbled back and forth down the crevice with Gypsy bringing out the chain sword. Back and forth they viciously thrust and parried at the other seeking a killing stroke the other could not dodge under such circumstances.

KROOM! The wall of the glacier shattered with a resounding sound of thunder spilling both Jaegers on to the pack ice. Fury slid farther out on to the flat open area, both chainsaws deployed, flat on its back. It sat up but then its torso twisted a full 180 degrees backwards. It planted both fists down on the ice and pushed off in an inhuman, disturbing motion. V-v-vzzzrrrkkk! It spun back into full forward position on its feet now. The blasted Particle Charger ignited with its fury again, only to be sustained. Nate's experience was the only reason they blocked the beam with the sword, but it was a poor defense at best. The rogue kept beam firmly fixed on them and with long, bracing strides, it was slowly closing the gap, the pulses down the beam keeping them off balance.

"We gotta get outta here!" groaned Nate over the strain of intense effort. They promptly used the elbow rocket but took aim downward. The ice, already weakened from the intense heat, gave way with ease at the hefty blow. Obsidian's target fell out of sight beneath the pack ice. It strode over to the hole but stopped looking down. It almost appeared unsure of what to do next. There was flash followed by a rumble. A small tube popped up out of the ice like a rocket into the air. It popped open and a number of needle-like missiles spat fire and zoomed down at the Jaeger. It shielded its face, but the explosives struck in a circle around its feet. It to fell through the ice, but belly flopped so that it remained stuck like a sub venting on the surface. Suddenly, the shape of Gypsy Avenger filled its vision and tackled it in a rocket-propelled charge from below. The two exploded out of the water in a blast of freezing droplets and ice with Gypsy on top. Pinning the rogue Jaeger, they threw a right down at the "face". It narrowly dodged left and managed to get its long arms on their back shoulders, slamming them face first against the ice and leaving a hole. It got itself braced, and rolled them over. Now it was on top and it couldn't possibly miss. _Go for unexpected_.

"Plasma cannon!" yelled Jake furiously. The left arm reconfigured its shape and blasted right in the face of Obsidian Fury. The sheer impact of the blast force knocked Obsidian clean off them and left its feet dancing absurdly on the ice as it flew backwards for about a mile. Finally, it hit the ice and managed against all odds to roll with the blow on to its feet. Still it did not stand back up with much speed. The battle was taking a toll, and it had not received any repairs or attention since Sydney.

"I think we've hacked 'em off," said Nate breathlessly, looking over to Jake.

"Good," he said without batting an eye. Emotion would compromise their opponent's fighting ability. They gestured and the sword sprung from its sheath to full length, blue energy glowing along its length. They stood ready, waiting for their opponent to respond. It did not disappoint. Zrack! Both chainsaws deployed, bright energy surging over them. The two combatants charged each other. "You remember our old move?"

"Oh, heck yeah," Nate smiled.

The idea was simple in form, yet a little complicated in execution. Complicated if the opponent saw it coming, but the pilots of Obsidian would not be able to see it coming. They kept going forward as if going for a lunge or momentum-enhanced swing, but instead they went into a crouch and spun. The ice helped. Fury's swing missed completely while they spun around and swung the chain sword in a one hundred eighty degree turn that took advantage of the charging opponent's momentum. The rogue ran straight into the blade, which cut deeper as Gypsy kept sliding past Obsidian, and then was torn out by the force of their slide. Obsidian slowed to a halt, almost stumbled in fact, while Jake and Nate remained crouched watching for the next action.

The rogue partially turned exposing its torso. A long glowing orange line several feet thick, crossed its entire midsection right at the Particle Charger. "He looks hurt," observed Jake. Still, he didn't dare charge unless Nate thought it wise. Recklessness would get them killed out here.

"Go for his power core!" yelled Nate sensing victory and the only opening they might get. One chance, it was now or never! Gypsy charged and Obsidian weakly swung its right saw. Crack! went a strong right fist to the chest. Obsidian convulsed on that one like when a person was hit in the diaphragm. They stabbed it in the left quad, took out its mobility. Crack! Obsidian broke it off at the wrist with a clever upward swing of the right hand. The saw's superior weight did the rest. They received two blows, one on each shoulder while they were reeling. It scissored its weapon arms in an X designed to cleave them at the neck or right on the face. Desperately they caught it, but Obsidian was strong and they were off balance. Its weight, the position they were in, the blades, it was all against them. Jake strained and Nate gritted his teeth, growling in effort, as the virtual image displayed inched closer and closer. The left saw began to scrape on the hull of Gypsy. Jake gasped at the sensation, how it felt, and then his vision went red with determination. _Mako._

Everything else blacked out except a whole lot of willpower. Noise ceased in his ears, he felt nothing. A quick jerk of his head and suddenly he reversed the hold so that Obsidian's arms were crossed in the wrong position so it lacked the proper leverage. The right saw was scraping them on the shoulder but now Jake had 'em by the head and he was pulling them closer, forcing Obsidian where it did not want to go. He got his hands just right, and suddenly Obsidian was the one being threatened with decapitation by its own weapons. No more chances, no more anything. It all ended now! Jake landed a head butt on Obsidian rattling its conn pod and then promptly crouched and gave a nasty, soaring left that caught Obsidian right on the chin, staggering it. The rogue attempted a counter swing but it was too slow, movement impaired. They ripped out the blade from the thigh of Fury and promptly got it right in the exposed areas of the neck, crippling the wiring and mobility. Jake and Nate reared back. _NOW!_ BWASHT! The left fist punched straight through the back of the Jaeger, the spherical power core clenched in hand, then it yanked back out. They both stood there breathing hard from the intensity of their last efforts.

Obsidian Fury stood there with the hole in its chest as if somehow refusing to go down, strange growling sounds emanating from servos and gears that had to bow to the laws of inevitability. With a mighty groan, the fearsome Jaeger collapsed with a crunch on to the ice, the orange fire in its helm going dark. "Pilots of Obsidian Fury," Jake said through the comm, his voice booming over the ice with authority, striding towards the fallen machine, "get the _heck_ out of your conn pod, now!"

They placed a firm, authoritative foot down on the body to emphasize the point. Jake then promptly got his hands on the helm and began to squeeze, digging and pulling against the helm. His patience was at an end. _No more hiding whoever you are._ With Nate's careful aid, they yanked it off exposing…

"What the blazes is that!?" Jake said in shock. Nate looked back down at the pod and grimaced in disgust and bewilderment. There were no humans inside the pod, just a blob of flesh that was pulsing like a heart, but seemed to be dying, really quickly. It almost resembled a Kaiju brain; and it was wired to the whole of the pod, meaning that they had been fighting a hybrid of Kaiju and machine this whole time. If it was Kaiju. "Gypsy to Command, Obsidian Fury is down, I repeat, Fury is down. But, you better send an airlift for two. And tell doctor Gottlieb to have his lab and equipment ready. We've got ourselves our little riddle here that needs a more scientific approach."

As they waited for the choppers, "You did good. Real good." Nate was complimenting him, but it didn't help to ease the confusion either of them felt. What had they gotten into and what was happening? The shadow behind all of this, who did it belong to? Had they actually managed to come back without them knowing?


End file.
